Mining the Diaries 86: Italy
Hotel Spadari, Milan, 9th December 2013
We decided to end our trip by revisiting the cathedral of Santa Maria Nascente. Founded in 1386 it is an extraordinary wedding cake of a building in an ornate Lombardy gothic style. Inside the columns soared up into the void of the five-naves lit dimly by filtered light from huge stained glass windows. Banks of candles flickered in the dark and the faint aroma of incense hung in the air
Daunted by the thought of the climb, we took the lift up to the roof (reduced rate of 6 euros for seniors). Down below tiny figures crawled across the Piazza del Duomo and the jumbled roofs of Milan spread out and disappeared in the distant haze. Slender columns hoisted precariously perched saints high into the sky. We were up in a world of fine crenellations, finials with sinuous crockets, ornate buttresses topped with plant-like motifs, mysterious figures half-hidden in slit niches, and a bestiary of gargoyles in gurning rows. The roof is decorated with 3500 statues of saints, animals, demons. Amazing masonry and complex and intricate structures revealed the effort and skill required to imagine such a building and construct it with medieval know-how and technology. It is the embodiment of faith.